French-fried logic:
PARENTS' FOOD PREFERENCES INFLUENCE THEIR CHILDRENS'

MANHATTAN -- Parents concerned that french fries have become the only "vegetable" in their child's diet may want to take note of their own vegetable preferences.

That's the advice of Paula Peters, assistant professor of foods and nutrition at Kansas State University, who says children, especially young children, are influenced by what they see.

"It pays to be a good role model. If dad doesn't like a certain vegetable, it will be hard to convince a child to eat that vegetable, too," Peters said.

Although a recent national survey found french fries were the closest thing to a vegetable that many American children were eating, Peters said parents can get their kids to eat more healthy vegetables and foods by taking a few simple steps.

"The most important thing is to have foods in your house that you want your kids to eat," she said.

Also important is to make vegetables and other healthy foods, such as fruits, more appealing to children. Peters offers the following tips:

* Don't overcook vegetables; they are at their best when served raw or cooked to the crisp stage.

* Let children be involved with the selection of vegetables and fruits at the grocery store or market. Also consider having a garden and letting children grow their own vegetables.

* Let children help cook or prepare foods. "Even a young child can help with parts of the preparation," Peters said.

* Look for ways to make the food more interesting, which will make children more likely to eat it. That doesn't mean all foods must be arranged into faces or animal shapes. Try simple things, Peters recommends, such as sauces for dipping. Some healthy choices include yogurt with seasonings. Any dip is OK, she said, as long as it is not used in abundance.

* Serve vegetables with strong flavors -- such as broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage -- raw. Cooking heightens their flavors, which may turn kids off, Peters said.

If a child still won't eat certain vegetables despite a parent's best efforts, Peters says that's OK. "As adults, we need to respect a child's likes and dislikes," she said. "There are foods that we, as adults, don't like to eat, and there are foods a child may never like to eat."

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Prepared by Beth Bohn.

February 1996